"So...this is a demon thing?" Kuwabara asked, sounding totally mystified as he, Yusuke, and Hiei slowly followed Kurama up the stairs to make sure that their friend didn't wind up in an unfortunate accident with the heavy looking fridge that he was carrying.

"Hn," Hiei said before deciding to explain. "Some demon's do something called courtship rituals. And apparently, Kurama is one of them."

"O-kay. But what does that have to do with a...what did you call em? Courtship rituals?"

"Listen, Kuwabara, some demons do those ritual thingies to secure themself a mate," Yusuke explained to his confused friend while keeping a close eye on Kurama. "For some demons securing a mate is pretty easy. As easy as throwing a rock and hitting someone with it, anyways. But for others...it's not very easy at all."

"In Kurama's case, due to the fact that he's a demon currently trapped in human form- finding himself a mate in any world would be difficult because of some of the old prejudices towards demons/humans. Not only that, but his affiliation with us, Koenma, and even his previous job as one of our group, would make it even more harder on him."

"What?! But how?"

"Because, to many demons it seems as if he's turned his back on his race and stuff."

Kuwabara stayed quiet for a heartbeat or so before uttering, "A traitor."

Yusuke thinned his lips a bit in displeasure of the words that his friend had just said. But still nodded his head anyways.

After all, none of them had really ever bothered to talk about how badly those two stupid words must have hurt their friend's feelings when he'd heard it being shouted at him all those years ago at the first Dark Tournament. And hearing them being said now, even without any anger or hatred behind them, was a harsh reminder of what many other demons probably still thought of the fox demon.

"Yeah," The dark-haired man said after a moment or so. "Because of that and everything else mentioned before, Kurama is basically condemned to be alone for the duration of his human life."

"But that's stupid! Kurama's such a nice, stand-up guy." Kuwabara shouted it outrage. Earning a pause in Kurama's steps so that he could cast a quick glance at them from over his shoulder as Yusuke reached out to put his hand over the ginger-haired man's mouth to quiet him.

After all, they didn't want their buddy to become distracted to the point where he decided to take them out. That damned fridge and the stairs would make a terrible combination.

"Being a nice guy has nothing to do with anything, you idiot."

"Indeed," Hiei finally chimed in again. "The rituals are simply to secure a mate are typically better used on demons. But in this case Kurama is applying them in an attempt to court a human female. Everything that happens after this, will be incredibly difficult on him. Especially if the onna has no understanding of demon courtships, behaviors, and tendencies."

"Oh..." Kuwabara said, sounding a bit depressed as he tacked on. "That sucks."

"Yes. It does." Hiei said curtly before falling silent again. It wasn't much longer after that that they reached the floor that Kurama had said that the woman lived on, and somehow, they all found themselves being inexplicably drawn into joining their friend at the woman's door as Kurama placed the fridge down and then reached out and knocked.

Ichigo had put Labyrinth on a short while ago so that Yuki could watch it when she heard an insistent knock on her door. Lifting her head from the cooing infant, she sighed, idly wondering if her dad had decided to drop in for an impromptu visit again.

Ever since Isshin had found out that she was the legal guardian and parent of little Yuki, he'd been making an utter nuisance of himself just to try and see the infant as much as possible and bond with her.

Which was fine and all, but the fact that he tended to drop in so much unannounced did kind of bother her a bit.

Getting up since the knocking wasn't stopping any, she walked across the room to the door and took a moment to reach out and check the spiritual energy, she was startled to find that there was more than one person outside of her home. Not only that, but only one of the energies was even human. The others were demon in nature.

Curious, since Koenma may have mentioned something about her going to live in the same building as someone named Kurama- a legendary fox demon. And that he was friends with the former Spirit Detective and had even worked alongside him for several years.

Koenma had explained that they were a tightknit group and that she may wind up running into them on occasion.

Yet despite that, she couldn't help but wonder if maybe Koenma had sent them to check on her or something. Unceremoniously pulling the door open to stop the knocking, she blinked at the peculiar sight in front of her.

There were four several strange men, and a refrigerator out in her hallway.

Weird.

"Uh...h-hello." She said as politely as she could manage while staring at the bunch of men and the fridge in utter confusion.

"Hi!" One of them, a dark-haired guy one with a cheeky grin, said jovially. "We're the welcoming committee and we're here to welcome you to the building."

She blinked at the guy and looked back and forth at the rest of them, wondering what the hell she was supposed to do here as she slowly said, "Oh. O-Okay."

"Our friend brought you a refrigerator." The tallest one said helpfully as he pointed to the oddly familiar red-head standing just a few inches from her.

She smiled at them, unable to help herself. They were just...what was a good word to describe them?

"Idiots." The shorter of the four suddenly said, startling her as he moved his hand to indicate the others as he continued. "They are idiots," He motions at the two standing nearest to him. "And he is a lost cause." He said motioning to the red-head that had yet to speak.

It took her a second to realize that the guy was telepathic and that he had read her mind. But once she finally realized this, she simply smiled at him and sent him a quick message via the thought express. His grouchy expression changed to utterly outraged, and he reacted to her thought in an instant, hissing at her like a cat just caught in a downpour before he went tearing off down the hallway and disappeared.

"I bet he's a barrel of laughs at a party." She said with a snigger.

"Not really," One of the men, the dark-haired one, replied with a half-smile. "He has no sense of humor."

"If that's true then maybe you aren't utilizing the right tool to make him a fun guy."

The guy went totally quiet for a few heartbeats, the gears in his head turning so fast that she could almost smell the smoke. And while he was mulling over her words, it finally gave the familiar red-head a chance to speak.

"You didn't go the hospital." The words were spoken very gently, with only the barest hint of worry and accusation in it as he reached out and gently took hold of her hand. It was the one that she'd been stabbed in earlier in the day. And once he was holding it, she finally remembered who he was.

"Oh! You're the guy from earlier. The one that I handed the purse over to." She smiled at him, happy to see him again. Even if it was like this, as she asked. "Did you get it back to its owner okay?"

He looked a bit startled by her question but smiled a little bit as he replied. "Yes, my mother was quite pleased to have her purse returned to her."

Kurama was trying to divide his attention between checking her hand injury and talking to her. A feat that was proving to be more distracting than he'd anticipated it would be.

"Wait, your mom?" She suddenly looked furious enough to try and hunt the purse thief down. Something that he could totally empathize with her over. But was best to leave alone for now. "That jerk took the purse from your mom?!"

"Uh, yes."

"Is she okay?"

"Yes, she's fine." Kurama said, unsure of what to feel or think at her asking about his mother. Especially since he could tell that she was genuinely concerned. "I checked her over myself."

A relieved look flitted across her face as she said. "I'm glad." Which was immediately followed by, "So, I have to ask. As a welcoming committee, what's with the fridge?"

Kurama turned red and accidentally released her hand as his friends decided to spin some sort of weird and totally useless story about the electricity in his apartment having been messed up somehow. And now he needed somewhere to put his fridge so that he wouldn't have to worry about everything inside of it getting ruined.

And in that mortifying moment, Kurama couldn't help but agree with Hiei's previous assessment. His friends were idiots. Hopeless ones that may have just ruined any chances of him ever managing to court the woman properly.

Yet despite the odd story they had told her, the woman simply nodded in understanding and told them all to come into her apartment and plug the fridge up.